my name's ATARAS and I'm currently a MASTERS PEAK in CHINA'S IONIA server. I started playing league recently at the end of s9 and have peaked MASTERS ELO mainly playing Irelia and Renekton in CN IONIA. (I had 5K hours in DOTA before playing league). i've already clocked in about 3000 games in S11 & about 1.2K of that is Irelia so don't worry about me being "new to league"! I hope this guide can help you out as I feel my knowledge of Irelia and top lane in general is more unique due to playing in a server not many people can say they've played in (the difference is very apparent between servers). it's gonna be a VERY detailed and hefty guide so take your time with it! i put a lot of effort into it. I also stream everyday for about 6+ hours and will answer any questions anyone has to ask. you can find me here or here for all my socials on another note, these are my more PERSONAL socials that i'm really active on and that you're more than welcomed to follow on too! PERSONAL TIKTOK, PERSONAL TWITTER, PERSONAL INSTAGRAM ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Pros → limitless potential → flashy and fun → very hard to master → can be played countless times → great design, character, skins → flex pick mid → extremely skill expressive → if played well, can win any matchup at top → does really well into ranged top matchups → your combos also help your dive into enemy backline ensure a one-shotted squishy

Cons → some REALLY hard matchups at top → quite a handful of matchups don't even let you soak xp in the first wave, depending if the enemy knows to abuse your relatively weak level 1 (weak compared to the likes of riven, fiora, sett, etc) → can be quite Flash reliant → that one annoying voice-line about little ruu → you're playing top, that means you'll win lane lose game a lot and that will be frustrating (not irelia specific)

> just an updated note as of 6th of January. riot ACTUALLY put through the TP changes (if you don't know what they are click here) this changes a small, small section of my guide but, i'm not going to be updating that just yet.

i believe big adjustments/changes will happen to the state of top and/or teleport so i'll wait on it but i wanted to let you guys know that whatever happens, i will update this guide accordingly- just give me some time to analyze the true state of top lan league.

either way, nothing much changes in the guide anyway so go on and keep reading the rest of this guide, you won't regret it, promise.

this is how you're gonna always play the first 3 waves of top in every game.

you start by asking yourself 1 question;

can I cheater recall this game?

if the answer is yes, then please watch this quick 2 minute video
that shows LS coaching sanchovies on how to cheater recall.

Play Video

breakdown:

> match autos on the creep wave as your opponent, but stay about 1-3 autos ahead.

> do this for the first 1 and 2 waves. once the 3rd wave comes by, begin HARD-SHOVING it as fast as possible in order to fully shove it in under the enemy tower as seen in the video above.

> once this is done, recall and purchase that Long Sword+ Refillable Potion buy that was mentioned earlier in this guide.

if you can't purchase that then look for a Long Sword & Health Potion buy? maybe even a Cull? anything you see fit, but ideally a longsword+refillable buy is best.

if you think you will get ganked during your cheater recall

if you think you will get ganked during your cheater recall on the first 3 waves of the game, then put a Stealth Ward down on river brush (your pick on which brush) at about minute 1:35 and continue with the game-plan.

> if the jungler comes top you shouldn't be too annoyed because this means they're not invading YOUR jungler and/or at mid/bot. just back it off, play it cool and don't die to the gank.

> finish up the cheater recall if you can once it's safe. if the opportunity is missed and you can't finish it then just play the game out how it goes, that's just part of league! you have to adapt.

> finally, when you do back and your ward is still on cooldown? get a Oracle Lens if you want. you can get your Stealth Ward back on the next back, or not, it's up to you!

when you walk back to lane you have many options.

freeze the lane outside your turret, go for a kill with your item advantage, force them their Teleport, or create a slowpush for lane priority and/or for an upcoming TOWER-DIVE, ETC.

that is how you cheater recall.
> deciding whether or not you can cheater recall depends on many things like; the matchup, who get's in lane first, if either player is brush-cheesing, if there was a level 1 invade, and much more. you'll come to learn the requirements do's and don't's soon enough with practice.

perfect 2 examples from my games with commentary.

here's an example from one of my games. in this game (diamond china) i managed to kill morde whilst doing the slow push (rule of thumb; when doing anything in league, if you can make a play to kill your opponent and that leads to a net positive, then go for the play, otherwise, don't). i commentate on everything i do most of the times so feel free to drop by the stream!

knowing i can perform a cheater recall in this game and matchup i went ahead and set one up. playing off on how the game is going i end up killing Mordekaiser whilst doing it as the opportunity presented itself. if there was no opportunity to do so, then i wouldn't have. think of killing them whilst doing this cheater-recall strat as a bonus. it's not the goal, but it's sure as hell welcomed if you can seize it. the true goal however, is pulling off that cheater recall.
check out how it went. note how after i killed him, i realized i could still finish up and complete my cheater recall. this is due to my lane priority & level advantage which came from the minion advantage which comes from the slow pushing. you'll see how it all adds up.

if you want to watch the video on twitch: click here

breakdown:

> note how i take free trades when i can, but not over-doing it so hard that i mess up the wave so badly and can't perform the cheater recall. with practice and limit testing, you'll be able to do the same. nothing is worse than messing up your wave management and being stuck in a bad spot in lane with no good back-timings available cause you butchered your cheater recall by playing too aggressive with 0 yield.

> even once Mordekaiser is slain i still keep up with the cheater recall. how? it's because of minion advantage. i have so many minions after killing Mordekaiser that he can't contest me at all as my minions deal too much damage early game.

here's the second example of cheater recalling and this time i had used that priority from my cheater recall to make a Teleport play at bot and mark my impact within the first few minutes of the game.

if you want to watch the video on twitch: click here

breakdown:

> in this game, Ornn was playing so passively i was able to fully control the wave to my heart's content, and with that, i peacefully did a cheater recall.

> playing off of how the game goes in the moment, i noticed Ornn was not in the best position, also he had taken Ignite. after shoving out the 3rd wave under Ornn's tower and cheater recalling i had so much lane priority that i took that opportunity to Teleport to bot lane and make a play, succeeding with that play and then returning to my lane to an almost full wave having only missed about 2-4 minions.

> this is the true power of cheater recalling, the power of lane priority, wave management, slow pushing, trading, playing off the current situation and making good calls with the given situation. stand your ground and have confidence in your minion advantage/lane priority. stand by your minions and fully control the wave as you should. they will respect it and back off, allowing you to manipulate the wave how you want to. Ornn is lucky that i couldn't set up a tower-dive cause that would've been all the top lane mechanics in 1 example video here LOL

if the answer was NO, I CAN'T CHEATER RECALL. then simply allow yourself to get pushed in and play accordingly.

> "playing accordingly"
> meaning you look to seize opportunities you can seize eg; they use a crucial ability and thus you'll win the all-in, or they make a misplay/mistake like taking too many tower shots, or are playing over confident and you kill them out of the blue or simply waiting for your jungler to gank. as long as you don't die and lose out on XP, you'll be okay.

extra tip:

> IF THEY AUTO ATTACK YOU, YOU AUTO ATTACK THEM BACK. BUFFER YOUR AUTOS TO THEM.

this mainly applies to the very early laning phase of the game.

many times i've killed and straight up won lanes against opponents just by auto'ing them when i'm being auto'd. in top lane, ONE auto attack can genuinely decide who wins the lane or who takes lane priority.

understand that auto attacks have a "cooldown". abuse this concept and you will destroy your lane in most of your games. click here for a perfect example of what i'm talking about. it's only 40 seconds long. it's short and yet a piece of information that will help skyrocket your rank.

TOWER-DIVING.

another piece of knowledge that helped me shoot to high diamond was making TOWER-DIVE plays. if you manage to perform tower diving in your top lane games you will be rewarded with dopamine and LP. let me show you what it is.
you can sometimes pull this off during the first 3 waves of the game in combination with your cheater recall too, and definitely throughout the rest of the whole laning phase too.

an effective tower-dive at top lane requires a couple things.

1. slow pushing
2. HP lead
3. patience
4. understanding the risks

[video examples of me performing this down below]


same regards as cheater recalling, we're abusing slow pushing. with a slow pushed wave stacked up and heading toward the enemy tower, you can crash this wave and TOWER-DIVE your opponent.

slow pushing is your best friend in the laning phase just like how shoving and roaming is your best friend in the mid-late game. get to know your best friends well.

tower-diving your opponent after slow pushing

doing this means your opponent will lose every single minion you had slow pushed toward them to their tower.

even if you die and go 1-for-1 it is completely worth it + you get to WALK BACK TO LANE not using Teleport while they HAVE to use TP. if they don't, they will miss out on an immense level of CS & XP whilst you're receiving it instead occurring in a large top diff.

before even committing to a tower-dive, obtaining a HP lead

in some games, you'll be able to literally tower-dive a full HP opponent because you're that disgustingly ahead. in most games though, you will need a HP lead. this is surprisingly easier to do than you'd think, and it'll only really be possible to do if you have lane priority, which is having a minion advantage, which is obtainable by; slow pushing.

> super important tip: aside from the first 3 waves of the game where you'll perform your cheater recall; after that always default the way you play your lane to slow pushing.

> this will help you slow the game down (which is good, league should never be rushed) and allow you to look for TP bot plays if needed, jungle fights, opportunities for trades which can lead to tower-dives as we're discussing or your jungler ganking you and many more things all thanks to minion advantage and lane priority (which occurs naturally when you're slow pushing). just trust me and slowly push your wave every time unless you have to shove it out to go help/tp somewhere.

on the other hand, if you fail to kill them you've doomed your own lane so becareful. if you're new to tower-diving i suggest to simply always go for it and test your limits!

>extra tip about tower damage/diving/tanking: ideally, the first and second tower shots are the ones you're able to easily tank during a tower-dive. anything past that and you should expect to either have to Flash out BEFORE the turret shot shoots it's killing blow at you or you have to use Defiant Dance to tank the shot AFTER you've left turret range.

irelia's W is extremely effective at blocking out those pesky "would have killed you" turret shots and so is Triumph. this is one of the biggest reasons we take Triumph over Presence of Mind so be sure to know your limits with everything i just mentioned.

remember: turret shots increase in damage per shot, so as mentioned 1 and 2 are relatively harmless. 3 onwards starts getting scary. this mechanic resets when a champion isn't struck by a tower for 3 seconds.

in some games, sometimes, when you commit a tower-dive, you will have to let your jungler be the one to secure the kill. in instances like this, it's a good idea to be the one tanking the turret to let your jungler get the kill with relative ease

here is an example. click here to watch it on twitch

> note how i accepted that my jungler will be the one to get the kill? so i tanked the turret for him? limit-test and learn this throughout your games. it's very important the higher you climb.

now, back on-track on how to perform a tower-dive

here is example 1 of me slow pushing my wave against Gwen and then creating a stacked minion wave to tower-dive her and make her lose all cs/xp.

click here to watch it on twitch

> note here how, with my lane priority (minion advantage), i took a favourable one-sided trade into Gwen, giving me a great HP lead and also making her use her Hallowed Mist, gwen's defensive ability. having a HP lead and forcing the enemy champions defensive ability(s) whilst having a good slow-push going on is a sign that the tower-dive play is a definite GO.

> also note how patient i am. you can see in this almost-perfect example of how seriously i take my slow-pushing. i don't rush anything. the lane is genuinely in my control. allowing me to have lane priority, get a HP lead, stack up minion waves and force favourable trades and many more things.

> i made sure to time the minion wave crash with my Ionian Fervor stacks. so that by the time i begin the tower-dive i'm at max stacks. this is to ensure as much DPS as possible to get the kill. little things like this is important so that other variables like gwen's jungler possibly coming by to help is not as likely since i used my time effectively and didn't waste any.

[if you're taking too much time to make the tower-dive play, just recall. few things in league are as tempo-breaking as hovering infront of their tower doing nothing and thinking "i'm gonna kill them" when you're not going to at all. next time limit-test/commit to the tower-dive play, otherwise it's okay, shove in your wave as you did and just recall. don't die over a tower-dive you hadn't committed to yet.]

> note here how i also turned on "toggle champions only". this is to guarantee i hit Gwen and not the tower by mistake. also note how i turn off the toggle when i have to Q to minions to get out of the tower.
get to this level of toggling and i promise you'll never (at least not in most situations) hit a tower again by mistake.

> i survived here thanks to my Defiant Dance, but just know that had i died, it would have been worth anyways as Gwen misses out on tons of cs/xp with this play.


here is example 2 of me having a slow pushed wave with stacked up minions and then leading all that into a tower dive in order to make my opponent lose out on farm. [click here or watch below]

click here to see the video on twitch or, for more examples click here (1) and here (2)

> notice how i get my Ionian Fervor ready for the dive, hit the Flawless Duet and ALWAYS AUTO-ATTACK before committing abilities/in between abilities (most of the time you will need to AA before/during abilities for max efficient DPS).

> i always try to pop their Bone Plating beforehand or force their defensive abilities eg; Riposte/ Counter Strike to name a few to be on cooldown during my tower-dive. HP leads before the dive is important and a large wave from your slow push is what will give you lane priority, map pressure and kill-pressure, giving you plenty of options to either roam, dive or recall.

final breakdown:

laning phase:

ideally cheater recall and then default to always slow pushing your lane to then execute tower-dives. help your jungler if you need to with your lane priority and lane control and make Teleport plays when you see fit. tip for those Teleport plays is to make sure you shove out your lane first before TP'ing otherwise you will lose a lot of minions/tower health over even a quick TP play. and goes without saying but if any opportunity shows to kill your opponent, then take that too, even if it's at the 1st wave of the game during your cheater recall play.

mid-late game:

shove and keep pushing and if you can't (99% of the time you won't be able to remember) then simply shove and roam instead.

what to do in teamfights:

dive their backline and blitz their squishies. utilize Flash if needed and if not, then doing so with your diver's kit.

what is lane priority?

lane priority means being able to roam first out of you and your opponent at top lane (any lane for that matter) meaning you get to help any fights/objective contests that's occurring elsewhere FIRST. this even includes using Teleport first.

a classic example: you have ZERO lane priority if you're CS'ing under tower as you can't roam from there since you need to collect CS. your opponent on the other hand, has full lane priority as he's the one that pushed it in under your tower & thus has nothing else to do in lane, meaning he can help out anywhere first

having lane priority can differ between many factors. from having a better wave-clearing kit to having a HP lead, kill-pressure, having minion advantage or finally, simply having jungle pressure.



more in depth about lane priority: let's say your opponent has lane priority in this example. this means he will get to roam first. whether that's going for scuttle crab, joining a fight elsewhere or ganking a lane/using Teleport to a lane, his lane priority has essentially bought himself time. your opponent has all those potential plays to make; while you're stuck CS'ing under tower. this is essentially what lane priority is.

also, if you try contest a roam whilst having ZERO lane priority, you will end up lose many minions. this is because your lane is pushing toward the enemy tower meaning your minions will kill their minions faster (since it's pushing remember!) equaling to you losing out a ton of CS/XP whilst your lane opponent loses minimal minions by the time they returns to lane.

there are many things about lane priority so if you want to, click here for a video the LEC youtube channel made about lane priority (6 mins only and timestamped) or find another youtube video that suits you! i gave you a simple rundown of it with an example. you'll understand and learn more and all about it the more you play top lane and experiment.

LEARNING HOW TO APPROPRIATELY PROXY:

what is proxying?
> proxying is the act of standing in between two enemy towers and preventing the enemy from walking up to their wave whilst YOUR wave denies themselves to the enemy tower meaning your laner lose CS/XP. while you're standing in between the towers and preventing them from walking up, you are also wave clearing the upcoming waves that come up to you.

- proxying is an excellent tool for us top laners to abuse. it's definitely not a thing you can do every single game, but it's definitely a thing you take advantage of if you see an appropriate opportunity to do so.

here is a video example of proxying on Irelia. you can click here to watch on twitch

> as you can see, i've analyzed and determined that in this very game in particular, me proxying was the play and as you can see it pays off very well when done correctly. understand i phrased "this very game in particular" for a reason. sometimes proxying simply isn't the answer and it might be better to do other things like; back for items, or shove out your lane, back for items then look for a Teleport play elsewhere, or shove the lane in and roam to help your jungler, or go for a gank at mid, or straight up simply deciding that proxying is too dangerous as the enemy mid/jg is missing and you can't win that 1v2 or 1v3, ETC, you get it.

> proxying enables you to further your lead, and just as importantly, stunt the enemy laner from furthering theirs thus creating that beautiful top gap.

when proxying you must keep an eye on your minimap. a good rule of thumb in league is;

if you can't see X champion on the map, always assume they are coming for you.

> this tip is S-tier and is one of the many staple "rule of thumb" rule-fundamentals you must keep in your head at all times. credit to XFSN SABER for saying it in one of his videos.

> this means, if you're proxying but see their jungler and/or mid-laner missing, assume this to be them coming to gank you, and thus you must decide; can i win this potential 1v3? or should i take this farm and back? or should i just back right now now? can my jungler help me win this maybe? do i have flash up? do i have my R up?

> you can see in the video example above i went for this proxy play versus Jayce after killing him knowing that if i proxy him and he tries to get back to his tier 1 tower, i'll kill him again. his jungler Kayn is also bot-side, furthering my ability to perform this proxy. knowing this i deduce that the only person that can really help Jayce out is the enemy mid, which is Nasus. the thing is, if Nasus comes and commits to helping out Jayce at top, i win that 1v2, hard.

> these decisions and deductions you make will always be different in every single game you play. so, learn, overcome, adapt and always ask yourself these questions first before committing to a proxy play otherwise you might risk throwing your lead and straight up losing the game.

limit-testing is important and understanding what you can and can't do is important too. good luck with proxying, when it goes well the dopamine your brain produces and the heavy lead you get is so worth.

BONUS TIP HERE:

looking out for TP plays bottom.

this should honestly have a section of it's own, but due to how short the information is, i'll simply make a section here in the guide as it kind of falls under the whole "slow pushing" and "lane priority" category we have discussed in this section of the guide.

using Teleport for bot lane and making plays appropriately is an easy way to impact the game so hard that it could possibly lead to a direct win from there. some TP plays as early as before the 10 minute mark can already insta-win you the game so always watch out for that.

TP'ing bot isn't so simple as simply TP'ing.

you need to have proper wave management as discussed. cheater recalling, slow-pushing, etc. slow pushing can lead to easier looks for bot TP plays as you have full lane control, lane priority and minion advantage. this means you can shove out the wave completely at your convenience, using your lane priority to your advantage & buying yourself time in order to commit to that TP.

this will lead to your opponent being stuck either staying and CS'ing the wave you shoved in or, if they decide to follow your TP, means they miss out on the slow-pushed wave you ended up hard shoving when you decided to commit to the TP play. either of these scenarios will end up resulting in a top gap. you end up helping bot/mid/jg whatever it is and when you return to top, you won't miss many minions if at all and as said, they're stuck CS'ing your shoved in wave. as long as you shoved in your wave before roaming. that's only possible if you have proper lane control, hence the importance and emphasis on me saying; SLOW PUSH please.

> again; minion advantage = lane priority = lane control = shoving it out to roam when you want which leads to: your opponent being at a lose-lose. they have to decide between not helping their team while you're helping yours or missing out on CS/XP.

> note that these bot TP plays won't happen every game and that you shouldn't force it either. this is simply me telling you to keep a lookout for it. forcing bot TP plays is an easy way to ruin the game for everyone, you included if it doesn't go well, so again, just be on the lookout for it.

[more about "shove and roam" down below]

extra extra tip;

use your toggle champions only button appropriately when you're tower-diving.

nothing will make you angrier than seeing an amazing tower-dive play and failing to execute it right at the end cause you hit the tower. make sure you get used to toggling that on or off or holding it if that's your preference. check the settings and start implementing it like your QWERFD buttons! better now/late than never, trust me!

a lot of reading but a valuable extra extra extra tip;

understanding armour.

look boys. it's gonna suck and it'll probably take you a while to truly grasp it but again the sooner you learn this the better.

you need to understand that armour is REALLY overpowered in the early and mid game. until your ADC gets Lord Dominik's Regards or you comfortably won your lane to a point where their early armour items like Bramble Vest does nothing, or it's just really late game when armour starts to have it's diminishing returns, understand that;

the enemy "tank" will always somehow out-duel you and you'll sit there tilted asf asking why a tank can out-duel you.

if your laner is building tank and you haven't established a solid lead yet? he WILL outduel you yes. that Malphite with 0 AD items will win a 1v1. unless he fights wrongly or takes a too extended fight, he will always win. and this applies to other champions too like an Aatrox with Bramble Vest. even a matchup that's Irelia favoured may suddenly seem aatrox favoured just because you couldn't establish a solid lead before the Bramble Vest purchase.

the sooner you accept that tanks/tank items are just really overpowered in early-mid game the easier your climb will be. you need to switch up and play toward when their items aren't as effective since building more and more armour has diminishing returns. accept that they're strong mid-game and play pass their powerspike because in the late game tanks typically pop like a pimple from your ADC whilst YOU aim their backline (you don't aim tanks first in the teamfights anyways. your job is to dive their squishies in their backline).

my tip versus tanks would be to; keep with the slow push. tower-dive if it's free but it probably won't be since you don't really tower-dive tanks (they're too tanky wow) & play with your shove and roams appropriately. this means looking for scuttle fights with your jungler and things like that. ensure you have lane priority so you can be on the lookout for potential Teleport plays at bot. plus, with your cheater recall that you should've done against said tank, maybe consider a Cull purchase? tank lanes are usually passive since no one can really kill each other. again everything i've said is true but if there's a play you can make that will work 90% of the time that can give you a lead? then go for it!

(i just mentioned a very special 5 fundamentals here and you'll learn more about it at the very bottom of the guide when i give you final notes. they're super important along with some extra tips so be sure to go through this whole guide)

whatever you do, don't die to the tank. okay? it will just play into their whole "tank is good early-mid game" plan and boost their chances of winning. this also segways into another good point of; understanding your surroundings, opponent movements and your gut-feeling of knowing when you're about to be lured and/or baited into a gank.

too many times i've selfishly tried to kill my opponent just to end up being in a very unfavourable 1v2 cause i ended up getting baited. chances are; if the kill looks way too good to be true in a way that your opponent is also moving in a unorthodox and weird way, then it probably is. if every fibre in your body says "just back now and get a good reset cause the enemy jungler is right there", then just listen to it unless you see the enemy jungler present on the map elsewhere (and midlaner too if you want to be extra safe) confirming that it's gonna be an isolated favourable 1v1 between you and your opponent and no interruptions will occur.

okay, now move we can move onto mid-to-late-game macro; shoving and roaming.

STEP 1:

GO TO THE APPROPRIATE SIDELANE

STEP 2:

START SHOVING OUT THE SIDELANE

STEP 3:

IF YOU CAN PUSH (MEANING NO ONE IS CONTESTING YOU), KEEP PUSHING. TOWERS > KILLS. IF YOU CAN NOT PUSH (SOMEONE IS DEFENDING (THIS WILL BE THE LIKELY SCENARIO IN 99% OF YOUR GAMES)) THEN SHOVE OUT THE LANE AS SAID AND ROAM

ROAMING?
ROAMING MEANS:
JUNGLE FARM, OBJECTIVE FARM LIKE SCUTTLE , RIFT HERALD , DRAGON , BARON OR OTHER LANE FARM? GANKING MID? Teleport TO BOT FOR A PLAY, SEARCHING FOR A PICK, GOING TO A JUNGLE FIGHT, RECALLING FOR AN ITEM, ETC. ROAMING IS EVERYTHING.

ESSENTIALLY:

shove and keep pushing (if you're lucky, you can do this) OR
shove and roam (which is what you're gonna end up doing 99% of the time)


here's an example of shoving and roaming from one of my games. i had appropriately chosen to shove out bot lane, then roamed to create a teamfight that ended up winning us the entire game. note that yes i'm sidelane pressuring by being on that lane, but as a DIVER- i prioritize being a part of these teamfights via shove and roam rather than prioritizing ending the game through split pushing as shoving and roaming has more value for my champion, in this case; Irelia. it doesn't show in the video, but i shoved out botlane first and then roamed mid. also, i was at botlane in the first place since i was pressuring that lane as baron objective was spawning first, not drake, so keep all that in mind too.

click here if you want to watch it on twitch instead.

> note how i immediately aimed for their most important squishies first? in this case it was Xayah, plans changed and i adapted and changed to aim the next most important squishy; Nami. once nami died (and xayah too) i aimed the 3rd most important squishy, Ahri.

> your "kill the squishies first" targets will always depend on which squishy is fed and should be taken out first, and which aren't as high of a priority.

note about divers

as you know, champions like Irelia, Renekton, Camille all can sidelane and exert pressure whilst being able to duel most champs that defend against them. but at the end of the day they can't do it as well as Fiora, Jax, Tryndamere, right?

this is because divers are very different from skirmishers. although we divers can sidelane,

we are so much more effective at shoving and roaming in order to be a part of these teamfights so we can blitz and nuke the backline squishies.

again, we can obviously sidelane and splitpush to contest the opposite side objective, but at the end of the day our champions have more value by attending these teamfights after shoving out whatever sidelane they're in, even if it's midlane.

skirmishers like Fiora on the other hand, don't do as well in teamfights as their kits are more suited for sidelane 1v1s, hence why those champs are so awful to lose to. but worry not! if played correctly, us divers have just as good of a 1v1 game and definitely a better teamfight kit. the difference between divers and skirmishers is important to make in order to further your understanding of league so keep all this in mind.

this is why i say "shoving and roaming" is your best friend as a diver player in the mid-to-late-game. but, let me explain to you on how to know which sidelane to put pressure on.

how to know which sidelane to put pressure on?

typically, the easiest way to tell which lane is the "appropriate side lane to go to" is the lane that is opposite to the current/upcoming objective.

> this means that if baron is spawning in 2 minutes and the current drake is spawning in 4 minutes, then the correct lane to sidelane onto is bot lane. this works the other way around. so if drake is spawning in 2 minutes and baron is spawning in 5 minutes, go ahead and pressure top side. ideally, your Teleport will be up for these sidelane adventures and if they're not, you will just have to utilize and time your shove and roams accordingly so you're not late to any important baron/drake fights.

choosing which sidelanes to go to as a top laner allows you to exert a lot of pressure. this is because if the enemy team tries to commit a stop to your sidelaning, your teammates can then contest whatever objective is up with much less pressure because;

1. if the enemy team goes for you, that means your team ideally takes baron/dragon "for free".

2. if the enemy team doesn't go for you, you can take towers/inhibs and/or shove lanes in "for free" (which means they miss out on cs/xp (which is important)

and plus,

3. you have options. at the end of the day you have Teleport. this means that regardless if they pursue you or not, you have the ability to Teleport to the baron/dragon fight anyways. if you're smart, you'll shove your lane in first as mentioned in this guide and then help your team. doing that will allow you to Teleport to the fight in a more favourable position potentially make it a 5v4 to your side. more about teleports later on in the guide.

extra note: Stealth Ward and Teleport synergy:

when shoving and roaming, look for good Stealth Ward spots. yellow trinket is great as a top laner with Teleport as you can ward down the sidelanes you're at and create extra space and or pressure when necessary. if the opportunity arises, you can use Teleport on those wards for either split pushing or for pressure, even if it's a ward by their inhibitor, allows us to play-make. these potential plays have won me countless games thanks to the pressure. some games i quite literally ended it by back dooring and inhib for all 3 inhibs destroyed, or just flat out destroyed nexus.

champs like Irelia, Renekton and Camille (divers) may not split as well as Fiora, Tryndamere or Jax (skirmishers), but we are DEFINITELY threats on the sidelane if left unattended and can ravage structures if left alone long enough. if you make a good call on split pushing, teleport or not, they will have to answer to that and send 1 or 2 people at you, creating tons of space, especially effective if you're split pushing on the other side of the map when baron or a dragon is spawning as discussed earlier. it's up to you to either 1v1, 1v2, keep pushing, TP to help your team or float around for pressure so they can't commit to objectives. if you don't do this properly you risk your team getting 4v5'd and you will have costed your team the objective and potentially the entire game.

shoving and roaming may be our best friend in the mid-to-late-game, however we divers have our options open for other plays too and this is one of them, we're just flexible like that. 99% of games, the standard AND BEST play you will end up doing is shoving and roaming with some split pushing here and there as usual, but in that 1% of games, you'll be map-pressuring way more than shoving and roaming and that's just the beauty of league. no two games will be the same. keep all this in mind and use the Stealth Ward and Teleport (or just teleport on it's own) trinket synergy well as TP cooldown can be quite punishing if misused.

with practice, limit testing, more games and experience, you'll learn what not to do and what to definitely do.

your job is to nuke squishies.

that's what champions like Irelia (classified as divers) are supposed to do.

with Flash, you're almost always guaranteed to BLITZ to the enemy backline and nuke them, but without it, you'll have to be extra mindful and skillful about it.

here is a perfect example of me using Vanguard's Edge + Flash in order to gap close and notice how i IMMEDIATELY AIM KAI'SA (their most important champion (and we all know she's a squishy)). click here if the video below is too small.

> small rule of thumb in league: if you don't need to use X ability. then don't.

example. if you Bladesurge twice on a target that was only marked once in quick succession and THEN they Flash, how are you going to gap-close that distance since your Bladesurge is on cooldown?

a note to always remember is if you don't need to use it, then don't. hold on to your abilities unless you actually need to use them. so if someone flashes to escape you- your Q should be ready (IF you held onto it instead of misusing it) meaning you can then use your Q to catch up to them and finish them off properly, securing a kill.

this goes for everything else in league including using Flash, Teleport, even something like using Defiant Dance on a wave. how many times have you died after someone engaged onto you after you've blown out your cooldowns on a wave for 0 reason? or had your cooldowns up after using your abilities on a jungle camp? sigh, i know i've died a stupid amount of times through that

extra tip: how to dive to their backline without Flash?

Flash makes life a lot easier for us divers but sometimes it'll be on cooldown. and when it's on cooldown you might find yourself to be in a position where you have to make a play and do your job as a diver regardless if it's up, coming up, not up at all or just fresh on it's 5 minute cooldown. let me give you some an extra tip here.

with practice, limit-testing, trial and error, playing a lot of games, watching others and maybe even VOD-reviewing some of your games/plays/attempts, you will start to see opportunities that will present themselves when it comes to diving their backline without flash.

take this as an example skip to 0:34 (click here to watch on twitch)

> note here i had no Flash. i had to figure out another way to dive and kill their most important squishy, in this case; Ezreal

a good tactic for Irelia is making smart use of her Bladesurge. think of it like Renekton. he uses his Slice and Dice from target to target, eventually gap closing and diving to his intended target. it's the same here with our blade dancer.

in that clip, i was "aiming" their frontline Hecarim. this can sometimes happen often when your flash is on cooldown, cause there's no reliable way to reach their backline without them reacting and just kiting you unless you have a good Vanguard's Edge or a minion wave coming up, right?

> my true intentions were to kill Ezreal the whole time, don't let me messing around with that Hecarim make you think otherwise. again, our goals as divers is to always, always, always prioritize nuking their squishies and killing them. DIVING them.

so, that whole "aiming frontline" is essentially me just bullsh#tting. i mark Hecarim with Flawless Duet and with that i use it's passive-mark to Bladesurge to him once, and instead of keeping up the fight and killing Hecarim, i instantly went ahead and used Bladesurge again to blitz'd toward Ezreal and knock his @ss out killing him fast.
tl;dr: i marked heca so i could Q him to gap-close and Q to the real target that i want to kill; ezreal.

again, with more games and genuine limit testing, you will see opportunities like this arise in your own games too. this includes in those games where you DON'T aim their backline- you'll begin to see how pointless it is to aim their frontliners as Irelia, and how quickly and often you die in teamfights when you get nuked by the backline you should've killed. one way or another you'll come to realize how divers need to dive their backline and that wasting any more time than needed hitting their frontline is what will lose you games and cut your potential as a player.

final notes

what has kept me into competitively playing in MASTERS ELO china ionia *AND CLIMBING are these 5 fundamentals, small micro tip and a few mental tips all put together:

1. cheater recalling
2. perma default to slow pushing
3. looking at bot for good TP plays
4. tower-diving
5. shoving and roaming

all together these 5 macro tips have allowed me to consistently play in MASTERS+ china ionia.

the one special one micro tip;
1. to always dive backline and aim their most important squishies first.

as a diver, you can never go wrong with this play. it will help you with knowing what to do and keeping your mind straight in those messy teamfights thus becoming a better player.

and honestly, league is just as much if MUCH MORE of a mental game than a mechanical game so let me include some mental tips too;
1. always say it's winnable. it really does help.
2. keep playing to win. don't simply tilt queue and don't play "for LP". play to WIN and try your hardest.
3. (works for me) stay cold, don't talk unless it's helpful like "im slow pushing to dive" (that will help you tbh) and focus.

ensure you're doing these 5 fundamentals, doing the important micro play and keeping the mental game strong in your games & soon you'll create your own unique way of playing top lane and be able to enjoy league instead of letting it negatively affect you since this game can really do some serious damage if you're not careful.

that's all for my guide!

i worked really hard on this and i hope it helped! it wasn't JUST an irelia guide as i hopefully sufficiently taught enough about the usage of slow pushes, cheater recalls, tower dives, lane priority and mid-late game macro and what to do in teamfights with top lane fighters (specifically divers)for you to get started on your journey to playing Irelia and top lane in general!

if you want to play other champs that are like Irelia for your 2nd/3rd picks or just back-up picks if she's banned or anything like that, i highly recommend playing either; Renekton, Camille or Fiora.

as i mentioned, i'm a two-trick Irelia & Renekton main, so i hope these examples in this guide and this guide in general helped you! irelia and renekton have REALLY similar playstyles both in lane and out of lane and in general and once i publish my Renekton guide i'll be sure to link it here!

if you'd like to support me!

again, if you'd like to support my stream or just come by and ask questions then please do @ twitch.tv/at_tar_ras
i also have youtube, tiktok and twitter! i'm very active on all of them (except youtube SORRY) so there are the links :)

TOP MECHANICS - strongly recommend watching this one, it's a must for top laners as it shows you the whole tower-diving mechanic i spoke about in this guide.

IRELIA GUIDE - no dumb filler. a genuine authentic guide. this is "old" Irelia but the tips are still extremely valid

MY STREAM - come by my stream :D i stream and play Irelia and Renekton everyday and can answer any questions you might have whether it's about irelia (since this is an irelia guide) or top lane in general!

an irelia combo guide - i didn't bother making an entire section for "irelia combos" as there are tons and tons and tons of youtube videos out there already showing you guys the combos. plus, i never really watched any myself either, only LolDobby and maybe a video like the one i'm linking here now. not more is needed as experimenting and clocking in hours of Irelia yourself is the best way to improve and find your own unique style to playing this limitless champion! PS: vid is timestamped already, watch it until about 1:47 as the rest of that is in spanish LOL

- video showing how to/what is cheater recall is already on the top-ish page of the guide (the VOD from sanchovies and LS stream)